I've decided to pose this question on a husky forum because, although our dog is a lab/husky mix, it seems it could be the husky traits that I'm dealing with right now. (FIY--this dog is my first experience as a dog owner). "Jojo" is a 10-month-old neutered male. We got him at 8 weeks. He gets along fine with the two grown cats that were already in our home when we got him. (Sometimes his attempts to play with them scares them, but he doesn't try to hurt them and usually ignores them).

We recently ended up taking in two kittens that the kids are crazy about. We thought Jojo would be fine because he seemed properly socialized around cats. WRONG! If we are holding one of the kittens, he sits there wide-eyed, licking his lips just like he does when he wants a treat. He has attempted to chase the kittens and try to nip them. He is not bowing down into the play stance he uses when he tries to play with our old cats--he is definitely trying to catch the kittens in his mouth. To make matters worse, one of the kittens is so friendly that he keeps going near the dog. We are keeping them separated for now, but it's unrealistic to continue to do so.

I've been told huskies have a strong predator instinct, so. . .please tell me, experienced husky-handlers, is there hope for us? Or will we always have to worry about Jojo harming the kittens? Could it get better once the kittens are full-grown? I'm so bummed out because I really thought he was fine around cats. What's going on? Why is he o.k. with some cats and not others?

he is ok with your other cats because he grew up with them, these 2 are new to his turf and that could mean food to him. many dogs/huskies that are cat "friendly" are only friendly with the ones they grew up with, it never means they will be good with all cats.
others will have more input and help blending the 3 as my 2 would eat any small thing brought into the house so we have not. for now keep a close eye on him

There are ways. But I'm not nice or positive when it comes to this subject. If you're waiting past the point of the wide eyes, that's already to far reactive to really teach the lesson. It has to be done in less than one second of his reaction to the cats.

Still. There will ALWAYS be a chance he hurts them and I would say the same goes for the older ones too.

My huskies are perfect with my one cat, they will kill any other cat that comes near them.

My friend adopted a Husky from the breeder two of mine came from. She was already over 1 year old, and had killed 4 of her aunts cats. They trained her to be okay with her cats through an E-Collar. Personally not something I would do, but an option. They would just shock her when she chased the cats, it took less than a day for her to understand that the cats were to be left alone. They even recently got a 3 month old kitten that she loves and plays with all day.

I think it's really going to depend on your huskies prey drive.

Are your other cats lazy and like to sleep all the time? Mine are and thus, the dogs don't care about them. However, if they were kittens and wanted to run around being crazy, yeah my dogs would probably give in to the thrill of the chase and eat them.

That being said, my dogs will never be trusted with my cats. Cato is crated if we leave the house and we ALWAYS have a "kitty gate" so that part of the house is set off as an escape.

I'm with Megan, Kale is okay with both of my cats that he grew up with, but strays that come in the yard or other small animals are fair game. They actually sleep on my bed together lol If Tabitha or Dusty (my cats) get frisky and start racing around he gets riled up and wants to join. Usually a leave it or no works, but that's 2 years of consistent training. The cats also have a cat door to outside if they need to get away for any reason. I've never trained an adult dog to be okay with cats, I'm sure it's possible, but not an easy fix. Hopefully someone with experience will chime in.